a satire of romantic, melancholic literature with silly names ( )

The short, satirical novels of Thomas Love Peacock are unlike any other genre. They are often recognized as "novels", but they also have characteristics of drama or colloquia. They do not have a plot, but consist of pleasant and often humorous conversations. In these short novels, Peacock satirized his contemporaries and issues of his day. Despite the fact that most of the satire is lost on the average twenty-first century reader, they are still very readable, and might even provoke an occasional smile, but from what I understand they may have provoked bulderous laughter in their own day.

Nightmare Abbey (1818) is the most famous of Peacock's short novels. Thomas Love Peacock was a contemporary and friend of most of the Romantic poets and their circle. In Nightmare Abbey some of these poets appear in disguise, Percy Bysshe Shelley as “Scythrop Glowry,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge as “Mr Ferdinando Flosky” and, Lord Byron in as “Mr Cypress” but I must admit that I did not recognize them as such. According to the introduction, Shelley is reported to have said that his house was instantly recognisable in the story, but I suppose it would require a great deal of biographical information to see through that. In fact, Raymond Wright writes that (at least in 1986, i.e. when the introduction was written) many of the side characters in Peacock's novels had not yet been identified.

However, as I said before, all that literary criticism can be left for what it is, and these short novels can be enjoyed in their own right, with an occasional chuckle. ( )

Another great comedy and social satire. I previously read Crotchett Castle by the same author which is also really good. The characters in this arn't as various as those in Crotchett, this one is all about Goth. And i mean that in the modern sense, most of the characters really like being depressed, and you have people like Mr. Toobad and Mr. Listless.
Its very well written and has great back and forth conversations. It also didn't have as many words i had to look up as Crotchett Castle. I was so into it and it flows so nice that i nearly finished it in a single day, its good stuff. ( )

An early 19th century English fiction of manners. I found the love life of Scythrop to be both hilarious and unbelievable. This book was also a criticism of other authors of the day, which I'm sure went straight over my head! This book reminded me of a string of paper clips, all clipped together, it wasn't cohesive. I stuck with it since if was only 122 pages. I would rate this a 2.5, but since I know I didn't understand it and didn't bother to look up all the satire about the other authors, I'm going to rate it a 3. ( )

In 2015 The Guardian published a list of the 100 best novels published in English, listed in chronological order of publication. Under Covid inspired lockdown, I have taken up the challenge.
This is book 9 in the chronological listing. Short, novella more than novel, and quite different from earlier books. This is a bit of fun, nudging the ribs of the various stereotypes in gentle society of the times (published in 1818).
As an aside, many of the early books in this list portray love affairs of the upper class of England at the time. With the benefit of hindsight, one would have to say that the mating habits of the time and class seem uniformly ineffective in every way. The pool of possible partners is so small; the capacity to get to know prospective spouses is so limited; and the influence of parents and others so inordinately large, that it is a wonder that Britain survived the era and became a world power! ( )